A Doll's House, Part 2

My students are often struck at the modernity of Nora, the central character of Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 play A Doll’s House. Nora’s big discovery in that play is that everything in her life, from her husband Torvald’s love for her to her own behavior, is in response to social expectations, and doesn’t come from a full authentic inner self. She realizes that she has never had the chance to discover who she actually is, and all her most difficult work and choices have never been seen or recognized. She has, as she tells Torvald, sacrificed her honor and integrity with no objection and no recognition. At the end of A Doll’s House, Nora makes the difficult decision to make up for her lack of self-discovery by leaving her husband and children, rejecting social and religious indoctrination. She says goodbye to Torvald, packs a small bag, and goes right then, late on the night after Christmas, not even waiting for morning.

Lucas Hnaths’ A Doll’s House, Part 2 was nominated for several Tony Awards after it premiered in 2017. It cuts into the story 15 years after Nora left to become her own person. She returns to the same house, knocks on the same door she left through so long ago. As the Seattle Rep says, this play “explores gender roles and societal expectations through the eyes of a woman mired in an era for which she is simply too exceptional.”

A Doll’s House, Part 2 at the Seattle Repertory Theater, March 15 - April 28